Washington, DC - Effective and comprehensive nuclear security must include technical and administrative measures to deter, detect, and mitigate threats posed by “insiders.”  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines insiders as individuals with authorized access to nuclear facilities or nuclear material who could attempt unauthorized removal or sabotage, or who could aid an external adversary to do so. 

The United States has sponsored a Gift Basket at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit that highlights this important issue through a call to bolster IAEA guidelines and training on this subject and encourage commitments to implementing strong insider threat mitigation programs. 

The United States maintains robust, multi-layered insider threat mitigation programs at its nuclear facilities and shares its experiences and best practices from these programs with the IAEA and bilaterally with international partners.  Domestically, each nuclear facility applies, appropriate to the potential risk, administrative controls, policies, and technical systems that are integrated to minimize the insider threat.  Internationally, the U.S. Departments of Energy, State, Defense, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assist partner states in developing and implementing national and site-level policies, programs, and procedures intended to deter, detect, and mitigate the insider threat.  Through the Gift Basket at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, the United States commits to augment these existing activities, including by supporting the IAEA’s development and implementation of an advanced, practitioner-level training course aimed at countering insider threats.